Masquerade of Monsters
by darke-magick
Summary: When Hermione woke up in the middle of the night, she quickly realized that she is trapped in a surreal dreamworld, with nobody left in the world except herself, that she had created.


**

Masquerade of Monsters

**

_If this is a dream, it is a very good one._

Hermione woke up in the middle of the night, needing a drink of water. Outside, snow fell in swirling softness towards the ground, and covered the willow trees with a layer of white gauze. The sky was a bluish black, with stars twinkling like little fireflies, and unless she was mistaken, a beautiful _aurora borealis_ was weaving itself across the darkness.

She got up quickly, pressing her nose against the cold windowpane, looking at the northern lights. Part of her wanted to call Lavender Brown and Ginny Weasley up; to share with her the view. But she could not take her eyes off the sky. It was ethereally beautiful, so unreal that she felt it might disappear if she averted her glance.

_I have to go to the Great Hall, _she thought suddenly. The huge floor-to-ceiling windows at the far end, near the professor's table, would be able to give her a better view. She grabbed her jumper and fastened it tightly, before walking over to Lavender's bed. She held out a hand to shake her shoulder...and found nobody there.

_Where did she go? _Hermione thought in astonishment. She looked more carefully around the still dormitory – and realised that she was the only one in it.

_Maybe they saw the northern lights too, _she thought to herself, but that answer did not satisfy her. Why haven't Ginny or Lavender woke her up too? Was it because she was sleeping soundly? But Hermione Granger had never been a heavy sleeper. The quietest of sounds would wake her up.  

Feeling slightly unnerved, she treaded slowly out of the girl's dormitory and into the common room. The door leading to the boy's dormitory was wide open, but Hermione could not hear a snore. Knowing full well that Gryffindor housed some of the loudest snorers in the school, Hermione felt certain that there were no one in the boy's dormitory either. 

_Where is everyone?_

And then it came to her. Maybe she was in a dream, and that was why everyone disappeared. 

_If this is a dream, it is a very good one._

But her dreams had never felt as real, or as..._sinister _as this. No, not even when she was dreaming of Dementors and horrible giant snakes. In those dreams, she never had a choice in them. It was like watching a Muggle movie, only that she was the lead actress and the audience at the same time. Seeing herself being led on a dance of death. Being led on a dance of death. Seeing herself being chased by faceless monsters. Being chased by faceless monsters. 

But in this dream she had to make choices. And that was the scariest. Because she knew that if she made a wrong choice, she has to blame it on herself, and no one else.

It was different, the corridors and stairways. Mist enveloped the walkways, twirling around her feet. Hogwarts seemed neglected, and ruined. The stone walls had greenish water stains, and ivy spread like a plague through every free surface. Roses with thorns crept along archways and rusty fences. When Hermione looked outside, she saw nothing but grey whiteness, stretching as far as the eyes could see. Not a patch of brown or green, just the white snow set against a dark sky.

It was very cold. The temperature sapped at her skin, even despite the jumper she wore.

She pushed open the heavy oaken doors of the Great Hall, and gasped. 

Statues of students, frozen halfway in action, filled the entire hall. Some of them laughing, their mouths curved upwards. Some looking unhappy, their eyes telling the truth that no one bothered to see. Couples holding hands and smiling at each other. Two person in the midst of a fist fight, their faces bared in expressions of hatred and dislike. Hermione could not tell who _anyone _was, because they all wore masks. Feathered, sequinned masks, paired with ball gowns and tuxedos. As Hermione reached out to touch the two fighters, they crumbled into dust right before her eyes. Horrified, she moved away. The dust scattered on the ground, and then nothing more were left of them.

Ashes to ashes.

"What happened?" she asked out loud, her voice shaking. "What is _happening?"_

She did not expect an answer, but there was one. "If you dance with me, I will tell you."

She turned around. There, standing three feet away from her, was a stranger. He was holding out his hand to her, and a white Venice mask hid his face. Hidden in the shadows, so she could not see him clearly.

She did not want to, but her curiosity got the better of her. She took his hand, and he took a step towards her. She felt his hand supporting her back, and then he led her across the hall, careful to avoid the lifeless statues. The two of them, dancing in the middle of the night, in the midst of the dead. It was surreal, and yet _real, _at the same time.

There were no music, no melody, but Hermione never missed a step. She kept her glance on the stranger, but no matter how hard she stared, she could not get a true glimpse of his eyes or his hair. 

It was strange, because she could never see the faces of people in her dreams, and yet, she knew consciously who they were. But this time, it was different. She could not see his identity and she did not know who he was. A familiarity nagged at the back of her mind but she could not catch it.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"That wasn't part of our agreement, was it?" he answered lightly.

She tried again, ignoring the uneasiness that was surging through her. _Something is wrong, get out now. Get out get out and don't come back..._

"You said you would tell me what is happening," she said.

"Yes. Yes, I did promise. And if it were anyone's dream but yours, I would not have kept it."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"This is your dream, and I am a figment of your imagination. You make the rules; you make the laws of physics. What you see here is how you visualize your utopia."

She was appalled. "No! I would never create such a place!"

"You tried to make a perfect world, and this is the result," he continued. They were no longer dancing, but had stopped right in the middle of the hall, staring at each other.

"This is only a dream," she babbled, wringing her hands in a panic. 

"Exactly," he nodded seriously. "And this is where it is most dangerous; because anything can happen."

She could not find an answer to that. Finally she asked, in a tiny whisper, "How can I get out?"

"Soon," he replied.

"Stop giving me abstract answers, could you?" she replied in desperation.

"Don't you want to know who I am?" he asked.

She went very quiet, and nodded. The stranger slowly took off his mask, and Hermione took a step back.

Draco Malfoy.

"You have always courted and loved danger. But you never had to face it like Potter had did. Do you understand now?"

But he was fading fast, and within a few seconds Hermione was back in reality.

***

Later in the morning, Hermione skipped breakfast to go to the library. And there she found out what she wanted.

It is believed that when a witch sees an aurora borealis at the time of a full moon, her reality and her sub-conscious will be reversed for a time. She will wander in her dreamscape, and in that place, she will learn of her darkest desires, her deepest fears. Such a phenomenon had not been proven of course, but witches over the centuries have reported – 

Her darkest desires, her deepest fears. Courted and loved danger.

"I understand," she said quietly.

^end^


End file.
